S3 Blog 28
You take care of the earth and water it,
making it rich and fertile.
The river of God has plenty of water;
it provides a bountiful harvest of grain,
for you have ordered it so.
You drench the plowed ground with rain,
melting the clods and leveling the ridges.
You soften the earth with showers
and bless its abundant crops.
You crown the year with a bountiful harvest;
even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.
Summertime can be a magical season. It’s the time many of us go on vacation. Whether it’s a long weekend or a week or more, we all look forward to time off, time away, time to rest and relax or have fun with our family.
If you’re a gardener, it’s the season of beginning to reap the rewards of the hard work of weeding and sowing in the spring. I have flower beds around my house and I love watching the different colours pop up throughout the season. I can tell which areas I have been more active in weeding and which I haven’t! The weeds have almost overrun some sections already.
As I consider this psalmist’’s description of God’s provision for the earth and growing things, I notice that there are things that God does but there are things that we do. God provides the water but we need to have sown something for it to grow. God provides what the earth needs to grow but the crops didn’t just appear – there was some planning and intentionality around what was put in the earth.
I think this idea relates to my ongoing theme of living out faith with our families. We want our children to know and love Jesus, we want them to grow into godly, loving adults one day. But are we being intentional about what we’re ‘sowing’ or ‘planting’ in their lives, even during summer vacation?
God is the one who is at work in the mysteries of our souls, feeding and watering us in ways that only he can do. But as parents, we also have a role in what seeds are being planted to grow and preparing the soil of our children’s hearts to receive what God wants to give (think of the different kinds of soil that the seed falls on in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13).
By practicing spiritual rhythms and habits in our own lives and with our families, we are helping prepare the soil of our children’s hearts to receive what God wants to give them. It’s not all up to us – our children still have to choose to receive from God, but we can help them by modeling it ourselves and practicing it with them.
Spiritual practices like praying together, reading Bible stories, talking about God’s creation and enjoying it (break out the sunscreen and bug spray and enjoy a nature walk!), all open us up to experiencing God. It’s not about being strict or legalistic about doing these things but about making it a natural part of our everyday lives, just like preparing and eating meals or bedtime routines are. And the summer is a wonderful time to add some adventures that can help us notice how God is at work in us and in the world around us.
This summer can be another opportunity for your family to grow together in faith and fun. Don’t forget to connect with your church family as well – we want to practice faith at home but not alone. God has given us a community to do life with!
Sarah has been Pastor of Children & Families at The Journey Church for seven years. Her passion is to see families growing in their faith with Jesus together and living it out in their homes, neighborhoods, and schools, as well as being deeply connected with their church family. To find out more about The Journey Church ministries go to onthejourney.ca. To contact Sarah you can email her at sarah@onthejourney.ca.
Images by Tania Dimas, Christo Anestev and Ainuddin Chalik from Pixabay.com